#10 Shade's Children ~ Garth Nix
Shade's Children is filled with a creeping dread that the computer intelligence that leads the teenage main characters (through the hellish wasteland of our world filled with terrifying robot soldiers with grafted human body parts who fight over territory in a decades long war-game played by three alien tyrants) does not have their best interests in mind.

Yes, all that other stuff is creepy, including the fact that one of the kids didn't escape the prisoner camps until after he was castrated, but the real slow horror of the book is that eventually Shade is going to betray the children who trust him and learned from him, and no one taught them to think critically enough to see it coming.

Trusted caregivers put Shade's Children on the top 100 banned and challenged books of the nineties.

#9 The Giver ~ Lois Lowry
The Giver features a dystopian setting where citizens have their sex drive removed, certain women are given the "job" of bearing artificially inseminated children, and where babies are euthanized for developing at a different pace than others. All ideas and memories, history, and art that would help in the governance of a society but at the same time cause inconvenient emotions are held in the mind of the community's Giver, who begins to pass on his gift to the main character Jonas, beginning his eventual disillusionment with the status quo. It makes the point that history, memories, and art; no matter how painful or difficult, are still necessary for a functioning humane society.

A staple of many, many middle and high school curriculums, it was also the 11th most frequently challenged book of the 1990s, in school districts in South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Colorado.

#8 The His Dark Materials Trilogy ~ Philip Pullman
Says Phillip Pullman on the reaction to his trilogy of children's books: "I've been surprised by how little criticism I've got. Harry Potter's been taking all the flak… Meanwhile, I've been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God."

The Golden Compass was the 4th most frequently challenged book of 2007. It rose to 2nd place in 2008, probably because of the "organized campaign that the anti-defamation group the Catholic League launched against the film version of The Golden Compass." Their president called it "atheism for kids."

#7 Stranger in a Strange Land ~ Robert A. Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land is a pro-religion, anti-theist book about free love and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and was controversial even when it was published in 1962.

So naturally it was challenged as part of the curriculum of a summer "Science Academy" course in Texas.

#6 Nineteen Eighty-Four ~ George Orwell
In a textbook example of "missing the point," in 1981 Jackson County, Florida challenged the presence of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four in its schools and libraries, claiming that the book was pro-communism, anti-Semitic, and had sexual references.

While that last one is certainly true, it still sounds like somebody only read the first twenty pages before doing their book report.

#5 Fahrenheit 451 ~ Ray Bradbury
In 1998, Fahrenheit 451 was removed from the curriculum in a Mississippi high school because a parent objected to the use of the phrase "god damn."

Is it ironic if you suppress a book that condemns the suppression of print information?

No, actually.

#4 A Wrinkle In Time ~ Madeline L'Engle
A target that seems to be ripe for the ban hammer is any book that stands firmly on the line between children's and adult fiction.

A Wrinkle in Time is the beginning of a four part series by Madeline L'Engle that tackles the the vastness of time and the universe, the nature of evil, and the dangers of blind belief. But, it's got characters known as "witches" in it, so it was the 22nd most frequently challenged book of the 90's.

#3 Slaughterhouse-Five ~ Kurt Vonnegut
Aside from its crunchy science fiction coating, Slaughterhouse-Five is also a near autobiographical account of the author's experience as an American prisoner of war in World War II, including being present at the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany where tens of thousands of German civilians were killed by American troops. It is also one of the earliest acknowledgements in popular literature of the fact that the Nazis persecuted homosexuals.

Not only banned (in New York State, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, and Wisconsin) and challenged (in Louisiana, Michigan (twice), Texas, Virginia, Rhode Island, Illinois, Kentucky (twice), and Wisconsin again), copies of Slaughterhouse-Five were burned in North Dakota in 1973. Book design by Evan McHugh.

#2 Brave New World ~ Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is an example of being banned for advocating things that it in fact advocates against, because the book actually requires you to pay attention to what it is telling you.

It was banned in Ireland in 1932, a Missouri town in 1980, an Alabama high school in 2000; and challenged in Oklahoma in 1988, California in 1993, Texas in 2003, and Indiana in 2008. Compliants mostly dwelled on the book's supposed endorsement of free love, free drugs, atheism, and rejection of the nuclear family. This would be half-way legitimate if the fictional society promoting those traits was presented as a utopia, but… it's not. Brave New World has been compared to Nineteen Eighty-Four in its contributions to dystopian science fiction.

Ah, the narrator of relative reliableness. Without it we wouldn't have, oh, The Tell Tale Heart, or The Yellow Wallpaper, or Fight Club.

#1 A Clockwork Orange ~ Anthony Burgess
The film version of A Clockwork Orange has taken the lion's share of controversy for the IP, as visual art is wont to do. Books, after all, can be boring and take a long time to finish. Movies don't stop playing even when you look away, and you can actually get through one in just a couple of hours.

However, in 1973 a shop owner in Utah was arrested for selling the book, and though the charges were later dropped, the store was forced to relocate due to the controversy. Later in the 70's it was removed from two high schools for "objectionable language." Presumably they didn't mean bratchny, droog, or yarbles.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/...a/m.io9.com/5653504/

"When the flame-retardant books came out
They had to burn the readers"

Where/when have they been banned?

I read "A wrinkle in Time" in school in the 5th (I think) grade, and "His Dark Materials" just a couple of years ago (shortly before the crappy movie came out). And while I didn't read them in school (I left the GATE program my sophomore year in HS) "1984" "Clockwork Orange", "Fahrenheit 451" and "Brave New World" were all part of the GATE English classes at my high school.

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: [#6 Nineteen Eighty-Four ~ George Orwell In a textbook example of "missing the point," in 1981 Jackson County, Florida challenged the presence of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four in its schools and libraries, claiming that the book was pro-communism, anti-Semitic, and had sexual references.

When i was in highschool, it was required reading, and tho not a sci-fyi, "to kill a mockingbird" has also been banned at some point and in grade school we actually had to read it and have a play...

quote From the link: In honor of Banned Books Week, Geekosystem's Susana Polo looks at 10 great science fiction novels that have been banned, or at least threatened with removal from libraries and schools. Including some major classics of the genre!

Ah, so they didn't have to have been banned to make the list, just had to have someone threaten to ban them. Kinda silly if you ask me. By that logic I could make a list called "44 greatest Presidents that have been assassinated" and just list them all, as I'm sure that someone, somewhere has threatened to assassinate each and every one of them.

[This message has been edited by OKflyboy (edited 04-24-2011).]

quote Originally posted by OKflyboy: Ah, so they didn't have to have been banned to make the list, just had to have someone threaten to ban them. Kinda silly if you ask me. By that logic I could make a list called "44 greatest Presidents that have been assassinated" and just list them all, as I'm sure that someone, somewhere has threatened to assassinate each and every one of them.

Still somewhat interesting to think about.
Science fiction that someone didn't want you to read.

Hardazz.

[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 04-24-2011).]

Some of those books are decent, some are crap, and some I haven't read and can't comment.

I will say this though: just because something is published and controversial doesn't make it good or even interesting.

1984 is a bunch of hot air and bumbles the dystopic analogy worse than a wide receiver with mallets for hands.

A WRINKLE IN TIME is a decent book, not banned in the Houston public elementary school I grew up in back in the early 80's.

I read several of these books in school, as required reading.

I can see some being excluded from school curriculum as inappropriate, or at least age-inappropriate. It all depends upon the community.

Banned? I'll bet you can go to Borders and buy every one of them.

Never heard of the first three you listed, but either own or have read the rest. Several of those were required reading in school (for sure 1984 and Fahrenheit 451).

quote Originally posted by OKflyboy: Where/when have they been banned? I read "A wrinkle in Time" in school in the 5th (I think) grade, and "His Dark Materials" just a couple of years ago (shortly before the crappy movie came out). And while I didn't read them in school (I left the GATE program my sophomore year in HS) "1984" "Clockwork Orange", "Fahrenheit 451" and "Brave New World" were all part of the GATE English classes at my high school.

quote When i was in highschool, it was required reading, and tho not a sci-fyi, "to kill a mockingbird" has also been banned at some point and in grade school we actually had to read it and have a play.

quote Ah, so they didn't have to have been banned to make the list, just had to have someone threaten to ban them. Kinda silly if you ask me. By that logic I could make a list called "44 greatest Presidents that have been assassinated" and just list them all, as I'm sure that someone, somewhere has threatened to assassinate each and every one of them.

quote A WRINKLE IN TIME is a decent book, not banned in the Houston public elementary school I grew up in back in the early 80's.

quote I read several of these books in school, as required reading. I can see some being excluded from school curriculum as inappropriate, or at least age-inappropriate. It all depends upon the community. Banned? I'll bet you can go to Borders and buy every one of them.

quote Never heard of the first three you listed, but either own or have read the rest. Several of those were required reading in school (for sure 1984 and Fahrenheit 451).

C'mon guys--enough of this realistic crap. It's raining on the parade of sensationaist thread titles.
I mean--- after all...

#7 Stranger in a Strange Land ~ Robert A. Heinlein

this book was edited by the publisher in 1962 at it's first printing
to try to limit the protest [ anti corrupt church leadership ]
but was reissued in the original unedited form much later [ 80's ? ]

quote Originally posted by maryjane: C'mon guys--enough of this realistic crap. It's raining on the parade of sensationaist thread titles.

The thread title is not mine.
Nor did I get the information from an unimpeachable source, like the bible or anything.
The title is no more sensationaist then any political thread ever posted here.......

Required reading when I was in Highschool included "1984" and "A Brave New World". I actually went and picked them up on audio book last year and listened to them. It had been so long and I wanted to remember them better.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 04-24-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: The thread title is not mine.

Who typed/pasted the thread title?

quote Nor did I get the information from an unimpeachable source, like the bible or anything.

Surprised that book wasn't on the list as well. tho I do not consider it to be a 100% infallible and impeachable source.

quote The title is no more sensationaist then any political thread ever posted here.......

I fully agree and have several times, said as much regarding many of the more sensationalist and misleading political thread titles.

(For the record----It was not I, who raised the spectre of politics or religion in this thread.)

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 04-24-2011).]

Ah but politics has been raised! Now it's a free-for-all. Liberals are evil!!! Limbaugh is the greatest!! Tax the poor! Nuke the whales!

quote Originally posted by maryjane: Who typed/pasted the thread title?

I am just repeating what I heard.
Don't shoot the messager just becouse you don't believe or agree with the message.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: (For the record----It was not I, who raised the spectre of politics or religion in this thread.)

I didn't intentionally raise any spectre of politics or religion.
This thread is about books.
The bible is a book.
In some countries, a banned book, even.

And politics only as a comparitive thread type, not a discussion.

But the real issue is weather you believe what the artical claims, that these books were ever banned anywhere, or not.
Not weather you believe me.

Must all future threads carry a disclaimer, or should everything we read & hear be taken with a grain of salt?

P.S. The link to what I was repeating was included.

[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 04-24-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: I didn't raise raise any spectre of politics or religion. This thread is about books. The bible is a book. In some countries, a banned book, even. And politics only as a comparitive thread type, not a discussion. Must all future threads carry a disclaimer, or should everything we read & hear be taken with a grain of salt? P.S. The link to what I was repeating was included.

Oh, I understand all that perfectly, but yes, we probably do need to add a disclaimer to every thread--like this one:
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/084550.html
I've read most of those books, and few if any, contain anything to warrant them being banned, and I am an older person with somewhat prudish ways compared to most readers.

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 04-25-2011).]

quote Originally posted by maryjane: Oh, I understand all that perfectly, but yes, we probably do need to add a disclaimer to every thread.

Just to be clear I added the below to my post above:

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: But the real issue is weather you believe what the article claims, that these books were ever banned anywhere, or not. Not weather you believe me.

I just love how books that talk about or preach Atheism get banned.. Yet books that talk about or preach Christianity are perfectly fine.. Gotta love those double standards!

quote Originally posted by Jonesy: I just love how books that talk about or preach Atheism get banned.. Yet books that talk about or preach Christianity are perfectly fine.. Gotta love those double standards!

Christianity is practically on the run in this country. This disturbs me, and I have no religious axe to grind other than religious freedom.

quote Originally posted by Jonesy: I just love how books that talk about or preach Atheism get banned.. Yet books that talk about or preach Christianity are perfectly fine.. Gotta love those double standards!

I don't think that is happening much here in the West anymore. Compare Aldus Huxley's experience with Salman Rushdie's.

Are you talking about banned totally? or banned from public schools or public libraries? Is atheism a religious subject that government should promote?
I don't have a problem with parents wanting to be the ones to influence their children's religious beliefs, and not have a school provide literature to the contrary.

I don't really think its about government promoting any religious subject. Im talking about religious diversity. Not everybody in this nation is a christian, therefore if its ok to have christian leaning books in school, then it should be ok to have books on other religions as well. I went too school in Alabama, which is extremely christian, which is fine, but the library was loaded with christian books. They even had the Bible on a pedestal right in the middle of the library. So if that's considered ok, then it should be ok for books about atheism, Islam, Judaism, ect ect..

If you don't have a problem with parents getting books banned because they are contrary to their christian beliefs, then the same right should go to a atheist parent who doesn't want their child exposed too christian (or any other religions) literature either. Otherwise your just alienating people who have different beliefs than yourself, and that is wrong.

I remember when i was in Jr High. Before classes started, everyone had to sit in the library for about an hour when dropped off.. Every morning they had open prayer before classes. Being an Atheist i had to basically just sit there, alone, and listen too it, made me feel uncomfortable and alienated from my fellow students.. But i had no choice, i had to sit there and listen too it because they wouldn't let me go anywhere else. And im sorry, but i think thats wrong to do that to children. I had no problem with them holding prayer in the morning, its their right to do so, but they should have also given people like me who where not christian to opportunity to go somewhere else, instead of forcing me to sit alone and listen to it.

But then again, in my opinion i don't think there should be religious books of any kind in a public school library. The students aren't there to learn about religion, if you want that, then send your kid to the proper religious school of your choice, thats what they are for.

Im only talking about public schools, as for public library, i think they should have books on any and all religions both past and present. A public school is a learning institution to teach certain skills, and religion is not one of them, other than in history class, and even in that case, its about how religion effected history, not the religions themselves.. A public library is a source of information regardless of subject..

[This message has been edited by Jonesy (edited 04-25-2011).]

I didn't say anything about it being ok to have a bible in the middle of a public library. I don't think kids should be taught any religion, or to be intolerant of religion either.
Of course the waters get murky because our society is based on Christianity.